Pakistani troops buried in Kashmir avalanche

Rescue mission under way near Siachen glacier where at least 117 soldiers and personnel are reported to be trapped.

Rescue operations are under way after an avalanche hit a Pakistani army base in the disputed Kashmir region, burying more than 100 soldiers under the Himalayan snow.

The soldiers were operating near the Siachen glacier in the northern tip of Kashmir when the avalanche hit in the early morning hours of Saturday.

"At six o'clock this morning this avalanche hit a [military] headquarters," Major-General Athar Abbas, the Pakistan military spokesman, said.

"Over 100 soldiers and personnel are trapped."

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Abbas said a rescue operation using helicopters, search dogs and soldiers is under way but warned "it will take days to complete the rescue operations" due to the climate and the difficulty of terrain.

Despite describing the slide as "a massive scale avalanche", Abbas said Pakistani forces remain hopeful.

A team of doctors and paramedics has also been rushed to the high-altitude region, which suffers extreme weather conditions, with temperatures on the Siachen glacier plummeting to as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94F) during the winter.

More than 12 hours after the disaster, no survivors have been found so far.

The Associated Press news agency quoted a security official as identifying the trapped battalion as being headquartered in Gayari sector.

Military sources have told Al Jazeera that helicopters had been flown to what has been described as the "very remote location" on the glacier.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said,
"This is an extremely remote region, and it would be difficult to continue the rescue effort at night."

"And so far, there is no good news coming out, despite the fact that military is still saying that this is a rescue operation," he said.

Hyder said that with more than 150 military outposts surrounding the glacier, the Pakistan and Indian sides face not only each other but "also face nature ... [on] the highest battleground in the world".

Difficult terrain

Shaukat Qadir, former Brigadier in the Pakistani army, who has been to Siachen on numerous occasions, told Al Jazeera: "This is the biggest casualty that has ever happened."

"We have fantastic accommodation for the soldiers. When you walk on this terrain you never know when it would come down, and certainly you cannot predict an avalanche," he said.

The Siachen glacier, on the tip of the Kashmir region that both Pakistan and India claim, is home to an estimated 15,000 soldiers from both nations.

Siachen, rising to 6,000 metres above sea level, has seen more soldiers die near the Karakoram base from weather-related incidents than gunfire since 1984.

Qadir said: "Well, the fact of matter is that 70 per cent of the people have died because of natural causes, and I think this is the time we ended this damn conflict, which has absolutely no explanation."

"I can just hope [President Asif Ali] Zardari talks about this with [Indian Prime Minister] Manmohan Singh [on his India visit] and settles this issue for both, us and Indians."

Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told the BBC some bodies had been recovered but could not say how many had survived.

The avalanche hit a military camp near the Siachen glacier in the Karakoram branch of the Himalaya mountains. A rescue operation is underway.

India and Pakistan both claim the area and have deployed thousands of troops.

Long rescue mission
The avalanche struck the base in the Gayari district at about 06:00 local time (01:00 GMT).

The soldiers are from the Northern Light Infantry regiment, trained in mountain operations, including avalanche rescue.

The military says its "priority is to save lives", and helicopters, sniffer dogs and troops have been sent to the area to help with the rescue.

The BBC's Orla Guerin, in Islamabad, says the remote region is a particularly difficult place to launch a rescue mission, but improving weather conditions are expected to help the operation.

Maj Gen Abbas said the avalanche that hit the military camp had been "very massive" and it could take several days to complete the rescue operation, which was unprecedented in scale for such a location.


The Siachen glacier is in a remote mountain area claimed by both Pakistan and India
He said there had been no communication with any of the missing soldiers.

"It's too early to say how many survived and how many bodies have been recovered," he said.

Although the region is prone to avalanches, the general said, they tend to occur in "forward bases" at higher altitude, where only 10 or 20 troops are located.

The numbers involved in this incident were so high, he said, because avalanches were not expected in the immediate area of the camp that was struck.

An avalanche killed 24 Pakistani troops in 2010 - this is believed to be the heaviest loss of life in a previous such incident until now.

Kashmir has been partitioned between India and Pakistan since 1947.

Failure to agree on the status of the territory by diplomatic means has twice brought India and Pakistan to war.

The Siachen glacier is known as the world's highest battlefield, and soldiers have been deployed at elevations of up to 6,700m (22,000 feet).

However, more soldiers have died from the harsh weather conditions there than in combat.

Saturday, 07 Apr 2012

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/04/20124755454785414.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17643625